rachaelposton's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
Death Valley, California

Wildrose Charcoal Kilns

Ten 25-foot-tall, beehive-shaped kilns, abandoned in Death Valley.
Inyo County, California

Ballarat Ghost Town

This old mining town, deep in the California desert, has a year-round population of one.
California

Fish Rocks

This unique graffiti art from the 1940s has become a staple of this local landscape in the remote California desert.
Cantil, California

Saltdale

Salt is slowly eating away this abandoned saltworks town in the desert.
Agua Dulce, California

Vasquez Rocks

Named after a bandit and the star of several Hollywood prehistoric landscapes, these sandstone formations are a historical part of the Los Angeles natural landscape.
Santa Clarita, California

St. Francis Dam

The Los Angeles flood disaster that took 400 lives and ended the career of William Mulholland.
Ojai, California

Bart's Books

Explore more than 130,000 new and used books in the "world's largest outdoor bookstore."
Maricopa, California

Lakeview Gusher

Remnants of the United States's largest accidental oil spill still mar a California valley.
Bodfish, California

Silver City Ghost Town

This ramshackle ghost town is comprised of mining-era buildings collected from around the region.
Tehachapi, California

Tehachapi Loop

Where a railroad loops under or over itself to rise or drop more than 70 feet in a short distance.
Inyo County, California

Teakettle Junction

Travelers leave tea kettles in a remote part of Death Valley as part of a mysterious, decades-old tradition.
Ludlow, California

Ludlow

One of the ghostly stops along Route 66.
Baker, California

World's Largest Thermometer

This giant temperature attraction created some giant electric bills.
Baker, California

Alien Fresh Jerky

Finally the worlds of UFO enthusiasts and beef jerky lovers have come together in this roadside shop.
Newberry Springs, California

Rock-A-Hoola Waterpark

The "Fun Spot of the Desert" is now a haunting ruin, and a reminder that putting a water park in a desert is a bad idea.
Desert Hot Springs, California

Cabot's Pueblo Museum

The Hopi-style structure was built by the man who discovered Desert Hot Springs' famous mineral water.
Johannesburg, California

Randsburg

The liveliest ghost town in the state.
Lake Los Angeles, California

Lake Los Angeles

A dry lake is what remains of a community founded on a real estate scam.
Tehachapi, California

Tehachapi Wind Farm

Thousands of turbines whir at the origin of North American wind power.
Lancaster, California

Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve

Each year these high desert hills are absolutely covered with poppy flowers in a surreal show of nature.
Lancaster, California

Civic Musical Road

Finale of "William Tell Overture" can be heard as drivers pass over grooves in the road.
Twentynine Palms, California

The Love Signs of Twentynine Palms

permanently closed
In California, colorful roadside signs remind us all that love transcends borders.
Yermo, California

Calico Ghost Town

A desert ghost town—occupied for only 12 years—was once home to more than 500 silver mines.
Hesperia, California

Summit Inn Restaurant

permanently closed
The last Americana on Route 66.